


Heartbreak Itself

by clightlee



Category: Star Stable
Genre: Birthday!, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-08-29 13:43:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16745068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clightlee/pseuds/clightlee
Summary: Once upon a time in the West, Daine went looking for a certain magician...





	Heartbreak Itself

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HellishSam](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HellishSam/gifts).



> Yeah I don't know who the barkeeper is either, open to suggestions! Guest starring characters belonging to @Burgie, @inappropriatestarstable, and @willownorthbook

The Stranger slipped into the saloon as the sun was sinking low, casting long shadows through the small, high windows. Only a few patrons were drinking tonight in the dusty, malnourished little cantina miles from any town. All were travellers and The Stranger, it was clear to see, was no different. What could one expect, from a saloon at a crossroads?

 

“Drink?” The bartender, not much more than an especially dense shadow, wasn’t much for words. All that could be seen of him- or her, or them- was the glass they were polishing. It caught the rays of the setting sun like a prism and set diamonds dancing across the dingy stucco walls.

 

“Whatever ya got.” The Stranger pulled up a seat at the bar. One sniff told everyone- it was a very small saloon, after all- that this was not his first drink of the day. Or second, or third.

 

The barkeep wordlessly poured a glass full of an indeterminate liquid of an uninspiring brown color. The Stranger grabbed it before it even hit the table and knocked it back in one gulp.

 

“Rough day?”

 

The Stranger nodded, long, unkempt black hair falling over one eye. “Rough couple weeks. I’m looking for someone. You seen him?” The Stranger pulled a crumpled and sweat-stained piece of paper from his waistcoat- next to his heart. It was a playbill, weeks old, that read:

 

**COME SEE!**

**The Amazing YDRIS and His Company of Revellers**

**Snake Charmers! Fortune Tellers! Sharpshooters, Clowns and Trick Riders!**

**One Night Only!**

 

In the center of the playbill was the portrait of a rakish gentleman, young but preternaturally worldly in look. He flashed a dazzling smile, visible even in smudged ink, from between a ruffled cravat and a top hat.

 

The barkeeper, still not much more than a shadow, threw back their head and laughed.

 

“Seen him? Seen him? Son, we’ve all seen him. You can’t miss that man!”

 

Now the rest of the bar patrons were inching closer, craning their necks to see the face on the poster.

 

“Owes me fifty dollars,” spat one of them, her only distinctive feature in the low light hair the color of cornsilk.

 

“Broke off an engagement with a friend of mine, just last month,” said another behind a flash of spectacles.

 

“The man’s heartbreak itself,” summarized the bartender, who had gone back to polishing the winking glass. “What makes you want to find him so bad? Young fellow like yourself could be riding the range, working the land… surely you’ve got better things to do.”

 

The Stranger rapped on the bar with a note of frustration and the barkeep poured another glass. “He took something of mine.”

 

“You and every maiden between here and New Marstal,” muttered a third patron over her pint of bitter. A cloud of reddish-brown hair and a jaded air hung around her like a fog.

 

The Stranger drained his second glass and placed a few coins on the bar, closing out. “You lot are some help.”

 

The bartender hesitated a moment- the winking glass held still- then seemed to relent. “He and his troop passed through here five days ago. Barely stopped to water their horses, and they were off again like bats outta hell. Like they was running from something.”

 

 _Running from me._ The Stranger let a smile slide swiftly across his face. “Headed which way?” He thought of the crossroads, out there in the gathering darkness.

 

“West.” The bartender was certain.

 

The Stranger rose and tipped his hat. “Then I’d best be going. Good evening to all you folks.” In a swish of careworn duster, he was back out the door.

 

…

 

Daine ruffled Cloud’s ears as he untied the reins from the hitching post outside the bar. The sun was completing its dip beneath the horizon, but Daine didn’t mind riding through the night. The Amazing Ydris had stolen his heart, sure, but Daine was fairly confident that he had stolen Ydris’ heart in return.

 

He knew what everyone said about the travelling magician, snake-oil-man, and all-around charlatan. He knew that Ydris had left a string of broken hearts from the bright lights of New Stockholm to the backwater whistlestop of South Hillcrest. But the night they’d shared a few weeks ago couldn’t possibly be something shared by people all over American Scandinavia, and the swiftness with which Ydris had left him led Daine to believe that the magician was spooked.

_I’ve never felt like this before, little Phoenix._

 

Daine shivered in his saddle, thinking of the magician’s voice. It had been silky smooth (like his sheets- Daine blushed against the cold) but tinged with something tight with longing. Ydris had secrets he’d rather keep and an itinerant lifestyle that allowed him to hide them. A permanent cowboy paramour was not something Ydris could risk.

 

Daine was confident he could change his mind. If only he could catch him.

 

They turned West at the crossroads, into the fading light.

 

“Hey!”

 

Daine gently reined Cloud in and turned in his saddle.

 

Three riders were following him at a respectful trot, from the direction of the saloon.

 

“Yes?”

 

The spectacled woman smiled at him. “We’ll help you find him,” she said softly.

 

“Yeah, and get my money back,” added the blonde.

 

“He’ll give a girl what she needs, and by that I mean dubious supernatural objects from the Old World, not sexual favours,” said the jaded one, with some hidden hurt in her voice.

 

Daine shrugged. “’Ppreciate the company.”

 

And they trotted off into the darkness, five days behind heartbreak himself.


End file.
